10 tips for new bloggers

I thought I’d write about something a little different to my normal blog topics. I’ve learnt a lot about blogging over the past few months and I wanted to share my top 10 tips to help other new bloggers.

The world of blogging is huge. It can be quite daunting, especially knowing what you should be doing before you publish your first post. I even found this post hard to write as there is so much to learn and understand, but you can make it as simple or as complex as you like.

Here are my top 10 tips to help you get started as a new blogger:

1. Don’t try and learn everything at once

Initially I did lots of reading about blogging. Although I learnt a lot, there was no specific focus and I like to have structure in my learning. I decided to do a blogging course which would give me a good overview of the world of blogging and what I should and shouldn’t be doing to get my blog started. I chose to do the Emma Drew online course Turn Your Dreams into Money.?Emma has a lot of experience in blogging and she explains things in a plain English, methodical way. The course isn’t too detailed either so it’s not overwhelming or confusing. It gives a very good baseline of knowledge which is enough to get any new blogger up and running. The course is split in to different modules and it comes with a workbook that you can complete as you progress through the course. Now that I have a good overview of the key blogging topics, I am now focusing on learning something new each month, and I keep referring back to Emma?s course to get me started or to refresh myself on how things should be done.

I loved this course by Emma – click here to sign up and learn more about blogging

2. Write at least 10 posts before you publish your blog

This was a huge mistake that I made – I didn’t have any posts ready except my first one. I have been on the back foot ever since, and this adds so much pressure. Having a good number of posts ready will give you some breathing space and give you more time to write better quality posts. You don?t have to stick to publishing all these posts first, but it will certainly help having these posts ready.

3. Research your niche

Again, I didn’t do this as much as I should have and I struggled in my first few weeks knowing what to write about. I had some ideas of what I wanted to write, but knowing what your niche is and what your audience wants to read about is vital for a successful blog. Spend some time doing some research and looking at other blogs similar to yours. Ultimately you should be aiming to write 80% on topic and 20% experimental and off-topic posts. This research will also really help you write some good pre-launch blog posts.

4. Be organised with your passwords

I had no idea how many passwords I would need for all my blog-related accounts – web host, WordPress, web page mailbox, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, the list goes on. Be as organised as you can with these, otherwise you will get really frustrated like I did and everything takes twice as long when you can?t remember your password

5. Capture all future blog ideas

Whether you use your phone, a paper notebook or other electronic device, make sure you capture your future blog posts ideas. No matter how small or underdeveloped an idea, just write anything down. I find that ideas pop into my head when I least expect them to, and if I don’t write them down I easily forget them. Having a thorough list of ideas will help you plan future posts and stay in control of your blog schedule.

6. Progression over perfection

I learnt this from Matt Cho from Macro Lean on Facebook, but Emma also talks about it in her online blogging course. I wanted everything to be 100% perfect before I launched my blog and published my first post. This was never going to be the case as I didn’t know what perfect was, and in hindsight it was just a form of procrastination. Everything I read said just go for it – publish your first post and take it from there. I was very reluctant to do this, but if I hadn’t, I’d probably still be hesitating now. What I focus on now is progression over perfection. My blog posts are never perfect, but the fact that I am posting them is me progressing with my blog.

8. Do a little each day

This is linked to the above. If you do a little each day, then this will all help you build your blog and ultimately your blog traffic, views and stats. Sometimes I don’t want to spend lots of time on my blog, so I schedule a few old posts on Twitter, reply to comments, or do some research to help with my blog planning.

9. Focus on 2 or 3 social media platforms

It’s easy to think that setting up an account for every social media platform is the answer, but managing these all takes time. Instead, focus on the 2 or 3 that you prefer and focus on these. My main 3 are Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. These are working well for me in my early days of blogging and mean that I can attract and engage with different audiences without the burden of managing an account for every single social media platform out there.

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35 thoughts on “10 tips for new bloggers”

These are great tips! Especially about not trying to learn everything at once and only focusing on 2-3 social media platforms. There’s SO much to learn in blogging. It’s best to take the information in as bite-size pieces.

This is a great list. I was so guilty at the beginning of wanting to learn everything and to be “perfect”! It only ended with me feeling stressed and wondering whether I should carry on! I’m far more relaxed about it now, and I find that the blog post ideas come much easier when I place less pressure on myself 🙂

Great post. I’m especially interested in #7. Yesterday I was contacted by a sister blogger with a very similar target audience. I felt like we might be able to support one another, yet as a newbie I wasn’t sure what to say. After chatting back and forth I just mentioned our similarities and asked if she might want to exchange comments. Do you have a recommendation on a better way to do this? I’m new and looking forward to connecting and following.

This is really helpful, thank you. I was just wondering whether I need to open an Instagram account, but as I already have twitter and Facebook, I will calm down and stick with this for now. Thank you. X

I?m glad you found it useful. I asked myself the same questions about social media. I guess it depends what your preference is – I like the simplicity and effectiveness of Twitter, but love taking photos so use Instagram as well. I?ve only recently set up a Facebook account but am not really promoting it too much. I got over 1000 views on a previous blog post in one day because someone had shared it on a Facebook group. I decided to set up my page just in case anyone searched for me, and before anyone pinched my name. Facebook is good as a little community for your blog, so it really does depend what you want to get out of it. But definitely stick to 2 or 3 platforms even if you set them all up. Hope this helps, and thanks for reading my blog post ?

Great tips, and I’m definitely with you on the passwords too (so frustrating when you forget them and start mixing them all up..!) Still working on the perfection one though and I’m realising that sometimes whatever you write, perfect or not, is far better than not posting for fear of what others think, as long as it comes from the passion you have for your subject. Fab post!
Caz x

I said the same thing about so many blog posts when I first got started. And surprisingly I think a lot of my impulsive posts have done better than some of my pre-planned posts. That?s what I love about blogging – you just never know what will be a success and what won?t.

What a great post. Simple straightforward tips. I’ve been blogging less than a year and can still find it all very confusing and all the info/advice out there overwhelming.
And thanks so much for the mention!!
Jill x

A really useful post! Thank you for the mention too I?m honoured! I wish I?d had more posts ready when I first went live with my blog. I had three posts rather than just one but then I wasn?t sure what direction to take at first. I don?t have a real niche so I?m still figuring that out!

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I’m Alice, I’m here to help you cope with and understand chronic pain. I share my experiences, tips and advice to help you carry on doing the things you enjoy and teach your friends and family to understand more so they can support you.